outfit

No one can be trusted for anything.

-10.13.102,010

Opening his eyes slowly Tao tried to adjust to the bright lighting above him and Nia could see the confusion over taking his features. His near black eyes were screwed up as he rose a hand to try and block out the lights beaming down at him.

“Tao,” Called the deep voice that Nia knew belonged to Yifan. “You’re awake, thank god!” He cried and lurched forward, but Nia quickly pulled him back before he could smother the poor boy before he regained full consciousness.

“Just give him a minute to adjust, then you can smother him all you want.” Nia told Yifan softly upon seeing his glare. Begrudgingly Yifan relented and took a step back with his eyes trained solely on Tao without looking away. Nia could easily see the affection the gruff male held for the other. He may not have said anything, but his eyes spoke for him.

Carefully Nia reached out to touch Tao’s forehead. The male flinched back at the sudden intrusion of space. He looked at her with confusion and sent Yifan a questioning glance. Upon receiving a terse nod Tao went back to his original position and let Nia gently lay her hand over his forehead. He felt rather clammy, but Nia thought it was simply from the shock of everything that was happening. He had just woken up from a fatale injury in a strange place with a strange person hovering over him.

“How do you feel, Tao?” Yixing questioned moving closer to his friend and pushing Yifan out of the way causing complaints to arise from the other, complaints that were ignored by the rest of the rooms occupants, though that did not stop them.

“My head hurts.” The tall boy let out a husky whine, his voice pitched and he scrunched his face together into a pout. It surprised Nia that such a large male could whine so much like a child. “What happened, did we get the bison?” Tao questioned and Nia withdrew her hand disappointed that his questioned was about the killing of a poor bison.

“Actually, the bison got you.” Jongdae joked patting Tao on the knee a smirk pulling at his lips as he teased the other. “You’re lucky Nia here helped us or you’d be dead by now.” Jongdae motioned to the girl currently moving her way back in the room to let the friends rejoice in each others safety.

“Nia, who is that?” Tao questioned not being able to see the girl beyond the broad shoulders of Yifan and the slightly taller frame of Minseok. “What do you mean he helped me?” Tao questioned further hitting a nerve in Nia, why did he assume she was a male? Most people who worked in medicine were females. Nia thought it was because men thought they were so strong and tough that they believed they needed to work all of the 'rough' jobs instead. She had never actually met a male doctor as she thought about it.

Hearing laughter coming from Jongdae Nia leaned over and landed a swift kick to his shin causing the boy to let out a cry of pain. Served him right. Nia was about to land another one on Yifan who was also chuckling, but stopped at being pulled forward by Luhan who had caught onto her plans. He sent her a wink telling her she could continue later on.

“This is Nia,” Luhan brought her into Tao’s line of view as his bright voice carried throughout the room. “And, I assure you she isn’t a man.” She could hear the teasing in Luhan’s voice and wanted to hit him as well. Did they all get some sick pleasure from her embarrassment? She would add Luhan to her list of people to hit later on.

Jerks.

Round-eyed Tao stared at Nia with his mouth agape and a look of horror on his face. He quickly tried to sit up and bow while ushering apology after apology out, but Nia was having none of it and pushed him back to lay down so he would not pass out from moving too quickly.

She was no medic, but Nia knew that with the amount of blood loss he had suffered Tao should not be making such sudden movements. She did not want her work to go to waste because the male was stupid and began moving too soon.

“You need to move slowly,” Nia told him in a hushed voice as he had already said his head hurt. “You lost a large amount of blood so sudden movements will only make you feel worse.” Her words were commanding, but the tone was light to let him know she was not a threat. Nia did not want the poor boy to fear her, that was actually the last thing she wanted.

“I’m sorry,” Tao uttered his nth apology even though Nia had already told him to stop. “I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.” He was so ashamed of something he had not meant to do and Nia could not understand his grief for the life of her. She may have been slightly upset, but she understood he had not meant it in a malicious way.

“Please, it is fine, just stop apologizing.” She told him as she gave his head a light pat. “You didn’t mean any harm so just stop or I may regret saving your life.” Nia joked ruffling the male’s hair as she spoke.

He may have been nearly twice her size, but Nia found that Tao was rather adorable as he questioned what had happened and picked at his fringed pants while he sat on her table. Tao had an odd air of innocence around him that reminded Nia of her younger brother Neema. They both had sharp looks that hid their sweet personalities.

“Woah! You did all that?” Tao was giving her the same awestruck look that Luhan had earlier, but for a different reason. “I’ve never heard of someone arguing with Yifan like that; he’s normally too scary for someone to even look at wrongly!” Tao told her a bright smile on his face as he practically insulted Yifan right in front of his face.

“Do you want to know my secret?” Nia questioned and she leaned in as though she really had a secret to tell the other. Tao nodded eyes wide with excitement as he leaned in as well. “I’m not afraid of the big bad Yifan since I have you captive.” She winked and sent Tao a sneaky look before leaning back and snickering at the red faced Yifan.

Hearing a loud grumble Nia looked over the group and saw the sheepish look cross over Minseok’s face. Turning from him and to the clock that she had embedded into the kitchen wall. It had been nearly three hours since Nia had found them and they said they were going to eat the bison and since that was a failure it had obviously been even longer since they had eaten. The males must have been famished.

“I’m sure we are all hungry,” Nia told Minseok supportingly as she gave him a coy smile. “Let me go and freshen up and then I will come back and make some food for all of us.” She could see the look of excitement that lite up the faces of the males. “One of you help Tao to wash up in the lower bathroom and do not flood the bathroom, again.” She gave them a warning and she left the room and she could hear the groans leaving their mouths.

Upon entering the bathroom in her room Nia nearly had a heart attack. She needed to teach those boys to clean up after themselves. Their clothes were everywhere and so were the towels and toiletries. She did not mind the clothes so much as she was still planning on burning them, but her expensive shampoo and soap she did care about being on the floor.

Letting out an aggravated breath Nia set to work cleaning up the room before she also cleaned herself up. She hadn’t realized how dirty she had became. Upon stepping under the hot shower Nia found that blood came off of her as much as it had in the sink earlier after she washed Tao’s arms and face.

Taking a moment for herself Nia let everything sink in. She had found an elevator coming up from Level 00 that contained filthy blood covered males. She took said males into her home knowing they  were more than likely dangerous and she even healed one of them! Nia then proceeded to let them make themselves at home in her home and even left them alone when they could rob her blind and she could not even do anything about it.

Yet, Nia had no regrets.

After she was clean and dressed, Nia made her way back down to where the group of males were sitting. She found them sitting in the lower living room and that her dining room was cleared of blood. She wasn’t sure how they had cleaned the blood away so well and so quickly, she also wasn’t sure that she wanted to know.

“Is there anything you guys would like to eat?” Nia questioned as she walked down the stairs to the lower living room. When she looked up she found six pairs of eyes boring holes into her. Looking down at her outfit Nia decided it couldn’t be that as her outfit was rather conservative and the males had shown far more skin than she was without a second thought.

“Nia?” Luhan questioned standing from the edge of the couch. When he received a nod his and the others jaws dropped. “You look so different!” He cried pointing an accusing finger at her. She hadn’t worn makeup earlier and she wasn’t then so it couldn’t be that. Her hair was braided, but she doubted that was it. "Now I'm sure you aren't a man!" He joked only confusing Nia further. Had he actually thought she might have been?

“What do you mean?” She questioned not wanting to play guessing games as that was what it seemed like Luhan was doing as he started making weird faces at her, ones which made him far less desirable. “I don’t feel any different.” She told him airily and she walked over and took a seat in the chair across from the couch. “Also, I asked what you all wanted to eat and remember no meat.” She reminded them not wanting to hear anything of dead animals.

Silence enveloped the group again as Nia sat and waited for one of the males to say something, anything. They refused to do so though. Instead of saying anything the males all just stared at Nia with confused and surprised looks on their faces. She couldn’t for the life of her figure out why the males were looking at her like that.

“If you’re not going to answer then I will just go and make what I want.” She told them after waiting for what felt like five minutes in silence. Standing Nia made her way back up the stairs to the kitchen area to start making the food. “One of you come and help me.” She demanded the males and quickly she heard the pounding of footsteps.

Turning she found three males standing in front of her. Yixing, Luhan and Tao all stood before her with wide smiles on their faces. What was going on, had they all hit their heads while she was away? Why were they looking at her like that.

“I said one so I only need one person.” She told them and continued to watch as each tried to persuade her to let him be the one to help her. Fed up with the annoying voices she leaned over the railing and peered down at the three who were still sitting down in the lower living room.

“Minseok,” Nia called garnering the attention of the auburn haired male. “You come and help me.” She told him before turning to the three males just feet away from her. “And you three, leave you’re too loud.” Nia was not sure she could deal with the any of the three with how odd they were acting all of the sudden.

Nearly silent footfalls alerted Nia that Minseok had entered the kitchen a moment after loud stomping told her that the others had left. She gave him a small smile as greeting before they began cooking. Minseok was by no means a great cook and neither was Nia, but they were able to scrounge together enough decent food to form a meal for the seven mouths they needed to feed.

The moment she had called telling the males that the food was ready, Nia could hear the stampede of feet rushing up the stairs to the dining room. Before they could even try and touch the food she forced them into washing their hands which they were able to do surprisingly well after she turned the sink on.

“I assume you know how to use utensils.” She was hoping they would, but at the rate they were going nothing would come as a shock to her. Nia was pleased when she received nods of affirmation in return. “Good, then we may begin.” She did not waste a second and dug in to eat .

Quiet overtook the dining area and for once it was rather nice. The only sounds that could be heard were ones of chewing and of the silverware occasionally hitting the dishes. To Nia it was a bit odd. She had become so accustomed to sitting in front of the television to make her meals less lonely. Suddenly eating with so many other people was odd to her. Odd, but not unwelcomed.

“You’re going to kick us out after this aren’t you?” Yifan’s deep voice callously broke the silence. “It’s obvious this was a bad choice for you, so you should get rid of all of the evidence and send us on our way, right?” Nia could hear the bitter tone in his words and it made her recoil in odium.

“No,” She croaked a low reply to the other’s scathing accusation. “You would be much safer here for the night. The siren has already cried, it won’t be safe to go out until dawn.” Nia could see their shoulders relax at her words. “But, I will guide you back to your elevator tomorrow.” She offered trying not to seem like she would be kicking them out.

She was though and they all knew it.

“So you’ll ‘kindly’ wait till morning to kick us out then?” Yifan let out a loud snort as he continued to glower at Nia. She could feel his glare as it never left her. She wanted to say something sassy and try and whip back at him. To tell him that he was wrong, but to do so would be a lie and she was no liar.

For the remainder of the meal not a word was said and the dining hall was quiet and instead of the rather tranquil silence from before this one was thick and somber. Nia knew that she would not be able to care for the boys any longer. She was already risking so much just letting them stay over night. Even letting them step foot outside of the elevator put her at risk. Nia knew what she was doing was risky and she understood to help them she needed to take the risk, but there was also a point where one needed to draw the line.

“I’m sorry,” She called out as the others stared at their empty plates. “I want to help, but haven’t I enough already? I could be imprisoned for not turning you in, possibly even executed if you are dangerous. Isn’t that enough?” She could feel the tears sting her eyes as she stood and made her way from the table and up to the only place she would feel well in.

Passing all the other rooms without a second thought Nia made her way through a single white  door. Her’s was the only print which the scanner acknowledged. She reached her hand out and the door slid open allowing her entry into the room within.

Entering the small room Nia looked around and found everything left untouched since her last visit, then again it had only been a few days since she had entered the room. It was smaller than most rooms in the house, but the view was what she wanted. It was a view that many would covet and reminded Nia of the world that surrounded he and what it was filled with.

A view was void of anything other than darkness.

It seemed like hours, maybe it was, before Nia heard several loud raps at the door. She wanted to ignore them, but after only a moment there were more and more again the following moment. The person was obviously hoping to die.

“Open the door.” It was a command coming from a soft voice. Nia was still not interested in opening the door though. She was not stupid enough to fall for the fact that his voice was low and unassuming. Nia knew there had to be something behind that kind tone, something with less kind intentions.

“Listen up little girl, if you don’t open this door I will kick it in.” There was the proof. Nia knew he could only hold out for so long without saying something counter productive. It was pretty sad how one dimensional the male was. He was one of the people who only had a pretty face going for them.

Sliding from the safety of her chair Nia made her way to the door. There was no way she would allow the imbecile to kick in her door just because he was angry. As she made her way towards the entrance Nia could hear Yifan begin to count.

Right as Yifan was about to hit ‘one’ Nia motioned her hand to have the door opened and her jaw dropped at the sight in front of her. Yifan was there and his foot was raised as though to hit her. He was actually planning to kick her door down!

“Good choice, brat.” He taunted as he pushed his way past her and into the room. Nia tried to grab his arm to stop him, but he shrugged her grip off like it was nothing. “Tight squeeze in here, isn’t it?” He motioned to the small room as though she had not realized how small it was.

“I’m the only one allowed in here.” She seethed and tried again to get the male out and ended with the same results. “Why are you here? And don’t try and say ‘to make amends’ because I will not fall for that.” She was going to let him throw a fit and hopefully he will leave her be.

“Well, too bad for you then ‘cause that is exactly why I am here.” She could hear the smirk in his voice even without looking at him and Nia was not impressed. He could not honestly believe she would listen to him, could he?

“Maybe you won’t believe me, but I do realize this must be hard for you.” Yifan’s voice had lost the snide tone that Nia was quickly becoming accustomed to. “It’s just, Tao is injured and no one aside from our group has taken the time to care for any one of us. I’m sure the others really appreciate it.” Nia could hear the pain in Yifan’s voice as he spoke.

Looking up Nia could see the pain in his features. He looked like he had forgotten she was even there, like he was in a world of his own. He was silent in that world and Nia was silent in the real one as she watched his face morph with pain and uncertainty.

Suddenly snapping out of his thoughts Yifan cleared his throat and looked back to Nia. She could see the clearly imploring look on his face, but she was not sure what he wanted her to say. Maybe that they could stay or that she would go with them and care for the boys? Neither of those were going to happen.

“I’ll send medicine with you, and give you some stuff too.” Nia was not sure what it meant to take care of another person, she herself had always been the one take care of. “It’s not that I want to kick you out, but as you said this is hard for me. I cannot do much more.” Nia let out a sigh of resignation as she realized it was true, she really could not do much more than that.

“You’re not listening.” Yifan grunted out causing Nia’s gaze to snap to him. “And for the love of...could you look me in the eye for once?” His voice was steadily rising even though Yifan was taking  deep breaths he still looked like he would explode.

Nia was taken aback and cringed into herself as Yifan’s pressuring form hovered closer and closer to hers. She quickly shook her head in denial. She did not know Yifan like that and they did not have a good enough relationship with him to look him in the eyes. He was asking too much, far too much.

“What’s your deal? Why are you acting like this; what did I ever do to you?” Yifan was indignant as he scathing words cut into Nia’s mind. Yifan had been nothing other than rude to her since they met, maybe he had tried to be make-up for it, but he failed miserably at that.

“Yifan, what in the world is going on?” A voice called out right as Nia was about to lash out, or she hoped she was. A pair of hands pulled Nia over to her chair and gently sat her down. Taking a chance Nia looked up and found a fuming Minseok standing between her and a livid looking Yifan.